A Bike Ride in Central City
by RAGbag
Summary: And in the middle of it all was a hungry lieutenant, a busy lieutenant, a sneaky colonel, a bored mechanic, an anxious suit of armor, and one very annoyed alchemist.


Okay, this story is based off of a picture by the series' creator. Y'know, the picture where Ed's riding a bike with Al and Winry sitting in an attached carriage? And Mustang, Havoc and Hawkeye are watching them? That picture. If you haven't seen it before, go find it, 'cause it's amazing. And sorry for the terrible name of this one-shot. I just... wasn't feeling creative, okay? That being said, I hope you enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FMA (or Hiromu Arakawa's amazing art work).

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It was a beautiful day in Central City. The birds were chirping, the air was warm, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Young children ran through the city's streets, laughing and playing, while their parents did their many parental duties. The mothers laughed with one another as they watched their offspring play, and fathers talked and argued about politics, sports, or anything else they could think of.

And in the middle of it all was a hungry lieutenant, a busy lieutenant, a sneaky colonel, a bored mechanic, an anxious suit of armor, and a very annoyed alchemist.

---

Edward Elric scowled at the pair of pleading eyes that watched him from across the room.

"Why do I have to be your servant just because you're bored?" he said, averting his gaze from the sky blue eyes that were staring him down. He knew that the moment his own eyes met them he would have to give in.

Winry attempted to be cute by batting her eyelashes. "Please?" She drew out the middle vowel sound, just to be annoying. Sometimes, Ed thought that the mechanic got the most entertainment out of bothering him.

"Brother," Al popped into Ed's line of vision. The suit of armor had just entered the hotel from outside, and Ed would swear that the day's heat practically radiated off of the hunk of metal that was his brother.

Al continued. "Brother, are we going to go or not? I don't want to have to wait outside much longer. People are giving me weird looks."

One could only imagine why. After all, it was completely normal to see a seven foot suit of armor outside on a day with this heat. Right.

"Please, Ed? Please?" The mechanic bent down behind a medium sized dog that was sitting on the ground behind her. She held its front paws—one flesh and blood, one mechanical—and raised them up to a begging position. "Even Den wants to go. It would be fun, and you know it!"

Slowly, unwillingly, golden eyes met blue ones. Ed had finally given in. "Fine," he spat out the word as if it was poison in his mouth. "But do I really have to drive the thing?"

---

Soft white paws padded on the ground as they moved to keep up with the owner of a pair of finely polished black high heels. The shoes weren't very fancy; they were polished, but not to the point of reflecting light. They certainly were meant more for business than attracting attention.

Today was Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's grocery day. And as always, she had a personal escort to take her to the market.

The small black and white dog trotted along with his master as she went over the grocery list in her head. Heads turned to watch the two of them walk down the street, but only for a moment. It was perfectly normal to see the pair of them go down the street together. Greetings were made and hats were tipped, all returned with a courteous nod by the woman and a small bark from the dog.

---

Light filtered into the office at Central Headquarters. Colonel Mustang abruptly stood up from his desk and stretched. His subordinates looked up from their work to see what their commanding officer was going to do now.

The alchemist headed toward the door, and a certain lieutenant felt that it was time to interfere.

"Where're you going, sir?" Havoc asked the question around the ever-present cigarette dangling from his mouth. His companions continued to watch to see the next move.

Roy turned to look at his blonde haired subordinate. His mission was summed up in one word. "Home."

The men in blue traded glances. Home? But they were supposed to be working! Just because Hawkeye wasn't here didn't mean they could drop all their work, did it?

"With all due respect, sir," Second Lieutenant Breda spoke up. "Shouldn't you be working?"

At this, Mustang seemed to consider something. A look of realization crossed his face. "Did I forget to tell you? We get off early today. As soon as you're done with your work, you are all free to go home."

Without missing a beat, the subordinates replied.

"Well, in that case," Lieutenant Havoc pushed himself away from his desk and stood up. "I'm outta here." With that, he grabbed his coat and left the office. Second Lieutenant Breda followed suit.

"Have a nice day, sir," he said to his commanding officer and departed. Veto Falman followed him with a nod to Mustang.

Sergeant Fuery's dumbfounded face was a masterpiece worthy of any art museum. He watched as his companions filed out of the room. "Are you serious, sir?" he asked incredulously, turning his gaze to the colonel.

"Even if I wasn't, it's too late now." With that statement and a final smirk, the Flame Alchemist left his office, leaving a very concerned and confused Fuery in his wake.

---

Small beads of sweat formed on Ed's brow as his feet furiously pedaled their way through the streets of Central. The harder he tried, the hotter it got outside, and the fact that he was carting three times his weight around in a bike-driven carriage wasn't making life any easier. Heck, it could even be four- or five-times his weight. It didn't matter. Ed just wanted to get this trip finished, and he wanted it finished now.

"How… much farther… do you want me… to take this thing?" He asked the question over his shoulder between his labored breaths.

From the carriage, Winry just laughed and said, "Oh come on, Ed, you aren't that tired, are you?"

"Er, Winry," Al began nervously, "maybe Ed does need a little break…"

Winry snorted. "Well, it's not as if there's anyone else to take his place. You're way too big for the bike, and there's no way I'm doing anything like that in my new dress." To accentuate her point, she began to smooth wrinkles out of the soft light purple fabric. "Ed's just going to have to live with the pain." Winry gave her sweetest smile and patted the dog seated beside her on the head.

_She's evil, _Ed thought to himself. _She's just loving this. _The alchemist glanced over his shoulder, catching the look on Winry's face. _And just look at that smirk! When we get home, I'm gonna kill her._

That said (or thought), he continued pedaling towards his goal.

---

Havoc walked down the street, his lunch in one hand and his coat in the other. It wasn't often that he got an afternoon off, and he intended to enjoy it. The only problem was that he didn't have anyone to enjoy it with. Oh well. For now, he had food, and he was happy.

As he continued his journey, he noticed his superior standing on the side of the street, reading what appeared to be a newspaper. Like himself, Mustang had changed out of his military uniform and was wearing what could be deemed more casual clothes. Havoc strolled up to him as the alchemist looked over an article.

"Hey, chief," he said casually as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

Mustang looked up from his reading. "Havoc," he replied.

The lieutenant looked at the newspaper in his superior's hands and remembered something.

"Oh, yeah, I was meaning to ask you," Havoc began. "Have you heard anything else about that incident near South HQ?"

"What inci—oh, that one." Mustang turned to a page in his newspaper. "Well, it says here, that--"

At that moment, his sentence was broken off by the appearance of a strange sight. Two strange sights, actually—although the one wasn't as strange as it was unfortunate (for Mustang, anyway).

The first strange sight was a certain alchemist huffing and puffing his way through Central on a bike with an attached carriage. Not only did Mustang not know that his charge was in Central at all, but he also had no idea how a person as tiny as Edward could carry such a huge load. Dragging along Alphonse Elric, Winry Rockbell, and an automail-clad dog in a bicycle-driven carriage was no small feat (unless, of course, one was as strong as Major Armstrong. Both Mustang and Havoc were fairly certain that Fullmetal was not as strong as Major Armstrong).

The unfortunate sight was one that the colonel had desperately hoped not to see on this particular day. On the other side of the street, one First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was carrying a newly bought bag of groceries while her ever present companion walked behind her. Hawkeye watched as the carriage rattled down the street as her dog looked at the other dog in said carriage curiously.

Ed and his companions sped on by, the furiously determined look on Ed's face not wavering for a moment.

Mustang, Havoc, and Hawkeye were left alone.

The First Lieutenant looked up at her superior, her stern gaze as firm as ever. "Sir," she began, "what are you doing out of the office?"

A small, nervous laugh escaped the colonel. "Riza, how many times have I told you to call me Roy?"

_Click._

It was the unmistakable sound of the safety being taken off of a gun. Both Havoc and Mustang looked from the considerably dangerous object that was now in Hawkeye's hand to each other.

"Uh, we'll be getting back to the office right now, right, Chief?" Havoc, guessing what was going on, looked nervously to Mustang.

"Correct, Lieutenant," the alchemist replied, and Havoc could've sworn he saw fear in his commanding officer's face. "Have a good day off, Lieutenant Hawkeye." With a nod to the woman, the two of them walked quickly down the road to the HQ.

Without another word, the sniper put her gun back into its place in the grocery bag, and she and her dog continued to make their way home.

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So, it's a terrible ending, and the story doesn't have much of a/any point, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Please review!


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